Sony's upcoming PlayStation 3, due on US shores on November 17, sucks up 380 watts of power, a far cry from the PS2 which sips a mere 45 watts. That means the PS3 uses more than twice the 160 watts consumed by the Xbox 360. The PS3's 380 watts will cost you around $40 a year to run if you play it two hours a day.

This appears to bode well for the Nintendo Wii, which, according to Kou Shiota, a key member of the console's design team, will have outstanding power efficiency: "With a smaller chip and minimised power consumption, Wii can be left on 24 hours a day." Note that Shiota didn't indicate the exact wattage used by the Wii. And, Nintendo's Wiiconnect24 service requires the Wii to be left running 24 hours a day, so that might cancel out that power advantage. Either way, you gotta pay to ride the train. – Charlie White